WomensStuff

My favorite protrayals of women are "warts and all" characters who aren't really good or strong, but shed light on the diversity of women in the world.

Silicon Valley. Hear me out. There's way more male cast, yes, because it's a satire of that whole scene. However, Laurie Bream is fucking awesome. A successful, probably autistic woman who's quietly ruthless and emotionally clueless. She's not bad or evil. She's never shown in a relationship, though she supposedly has a family who don't appear on screen. She's the type of female character that doesn't get written very often.

Next up? Diane and Princess Carolyn from Bojack Horseman. Complex women who stay true to their core throughout the series while experiencing extensive inner change, for good and for bad.

I really like Siobhan in Succession, too. She's a fucking mess and absolutely relatable. They do a great job of showing she has to work ten times as hard for the same level of respect, and despite kinda still sucking as a person, is clearly more competent than her brothers. Or she would be, except no one respects her position and she endures disproportionate criticism for her mistakes.

There are several good female characters in the Stargate Universe. Obviously Sam Carter, but also e.g. Elisabeth Weir and Vala. A lot of strong female leaders among the various alien races as well. I really like Elisabeth Weir. She's a diplomat and obviously out of her element working with the military, but she learns to adapt without losing what is important to her, which is being diplomatic and forging relationships as opposed to her military counterparts who's sometimes rather shoot first and ask later. Both Stargate series show her being successful with that approach after getting used to the military.

I really like how Stargate has a pretty wide variety of female characters. From scientists to fighters to dipomates to evil powerhungry and cruel.

I thought that Kim Wexler from Better Caul Saul was a complete badass

Orphan Black. There are so many strong women in that show, and so many of them are played by Tatiana Maslany.

Ted Lasso.

The relationship between Keely and Rebecca is so, so good

I would argue Fleabag. But it depends on what you mean with positive.

My argument for Fleabag is that she is a full human being with good sides and bad sides. It is a realistic portrayal. Same goes for the other women in the show (godmother, Claire, the lady winning the Women in Business award). They all have depth and character. I don't want women to be portrayed as perfect, I want them to be portrayed as relatable. The whole show depicts people that you feel like "I know that girl", "I know that guy". And in the end:

• godmother steps over her shadow and asks for help
• Claire goes for what she really wants
• Belinda (?) can't be fucking arsed because she knows what she wants and what she is and what she is not
• Fleabag experiences real human connection and feels ready to leave her audience behind

I want to say Golden Girls because Betty White, but I haven't seen an episode in so long I'm not sure if it qualifies overall.

Xena, Buffy, Charmed, Star Trek DS9, Murphy Brown, X-Files off the top of my head. They all have strong female characters, and most have realistic interactions/relationships between women.

There was a show called Dead to Me with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini which I thought was pretty good, but I never finished season 2 because the tension was making me anxious lol. I really want to pick it up again at some point.

The original Broadchurch was also great. Both Olivia Coleman and Jodie Whittaker were really fantastic.

Reservation Dogs is brilliant and every character (male or female) is extremely well written and developed.

I just finished watching series 2 of We Are Lady Parts, and it's incredible - can't recommend it enough.

Other good recent ones that come to mind:

Black Doves

Godless

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel

Edit to add:

My Lady Jane

High Potential

Not sure this counts as positive portrayal, but The Deuce is an excellent show about sex work and the porn industry in 1970s New York City.

Also again, not sure it's strictly positive portrayal, but Girls is a TV show made for women that in my opinion humanizes women (even if it also critiques women from the inside, so to speak).

Sex and the City is a classic 😅 (Warning: a lot of it didn't age well, lots of homophobia, transphobia, and racism.)

Gilmore Girls is also a classic, such a cozy show ☺️

My Neighbor Totoro

The Vicar of Dibley, a 90s british show. One of my favourite shows ever.

TVDB

This one will probably be a bit contentious, but hear me out first.

That '60s/'70s TV show The Avengers. The time with John Steed and Emma Peel, specifically. (I haven't watched enough of the pre-Peel episodes to form an opinion, and the post-Peel episodes were horrible in this regard with Tara King spending most of each episode unconscious or imprisoned.)

Now you have to filter for the times if you want to appreciate the status of women in The Avengers. Yes, Emma Peel was a sex magnet (she was specifically named to mimic the sound of "Man Appeal") and eye candy. But unlike most such shows of the era she wasn't only that. She was, in fact, John Steed's—ostensibly before her introduction the main character of the series—full-on equal.

Did she spend a lot of episodes imprisoned, unconscious, or otherwise ineffective until saved by John Steed? Sure! Dozens of times. But the reverse is also true! About the same number of times Emma saved John from certain doom. And indeed one of the more famous episodes ("The House That Jack Built") had Emma trapped in a death house, and John desperately trying to find her to rescue her, only to have her rescue herself and step out while John was breaking into the same house. She solved the puzzles, worked out the mechanisms, and broke free of the house meant to drive her mad and then kill her before the male lead could get there and rescue here (or, rather, simultaneously with).

She was a martial arts badass (by the standards of the time: you have to keep your '60s/'70s filters firmly in place) and a top-notch fencer. She was of superior intellect. She was an artist. She was, basically, good at everything she chose to do (and the key word there is "chose": she had actual agency). While stylin' all the way.

In the modern milieu she'd be an anachronistic throwback to a more sexist age (because make no mistake, the age in which she came out was incredibly sexist), but put her in that old milieu and she stands out as incredibly progressive for the time.

(I ... ah ... may have a little bit of a crush on Dianna Rigg, so take this with some grains of salt. 😅)

I thought the Residence's main character, played by Uzo Aduba, was fantastic. I thought the Good Place did a nice job of portraying it's female cast. And I will always love Cate Blanchettes portrayal of Elizabeth.

Resident Alien. I've only just started season 4 so I don't know if anything changes, but the female friendships on the show are fantastic. It's a really good show in general.

classic who.